Favorite Vanilla Bean Cake

I am a vanilla cake kind of girl all the way. Vanilla cake is my first choice and this recipe is my absolute favorite vanilla bean cake.

It’s a scratch cake and I’m sure you know how hard it is to find a flavorful and moist scratch vanilla cake, but I promise, this is it.

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I’ve worked and tested out recipes for so long and this baby is no ordinary bland vanilla cake. It’s got a full vanilla bean flavor, it’s rich and buttery and just a hint of almond flavor.

Now, just hear me out on the almond flavor. I use almond emulsionand it does NOT taste like ordinary almond extract.

Even if you think you won’t like anything with almond extract in it…I have one question for you. Have you tried it? It’s the same lecture I give my step-kids. Don’t say you don’t like it if you haven’t tried it yet. Sometimes things taste totally different than you expect. Here’s my point on the almond extract: The recipe only calls for a half a teaspoon. That isn’t much and it’s not strong or overpowering at all. All it does is to help bring out the flavor of the vanilla bean.

When you taste this cake, you don’t taste almond. You just know it’s got this full vanilla bean flavor and something a little special that makes you never want to stop eating it.

Ok, I’m done with the lecture. If you’ve tried almond extract and you just can’t stand the thought of it, I promise I won’t be mad at you and you can still make this cake with just vanilla bean paste or extract and it will STILL be awesome.

So, onto the vanilla part of this cake. I use this vanilla bean paste: Vanilla Bean Paste. It really gives the cake a much better flavor than plain vanilla extract. Trust me, you’ve gotta try it. There are a couple different brands available, so try a few out.

The mixing method for this cake is a little different than the norm. It’s called the reverse creaming method. Instead of creaming the butter and sugar together first, you’ll be mixing the dry ingredients with the butter.

Without getting too technical on you, the butter coats the flour and minimizes gluten development, which in turn, creates a very fine crumb and an oh so tender cake.

Here’s how it works: Take your dry ingredients and mix them in a mixing bowl. Add slightly cooler than room temperature butter in chunks to your dry mixture as your mixer is running on low. Mix until all the flour is coated and it looks crumbly.

Next you’ll pour in about a third of your liquid ingredients and mix just until combined (about 30 seconds).

Next you’ll add in the remaining liquid ingredients and mix. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again for about 30 seconds. Don’t overmix the batter.

Pour into two 8″ round cake pans (or you can use three 6″ round cake pans). For this cake, I preheated my oven to 350 degrees. But here’s the deal, once I put my cakes in the oven, I turned the temp down to 325 degrees. I wanted it a little hotter in the beginning to help with rising, but I didn’t want the outside to over brown.

Once it’s done baking, you want to set it on a wire rack to cool for only ten minutes.

After ten minutes, Set your rack face down on your cake and flip it over. Now your cakes are directly onto your racks. Just lift your pan off the cakes. Let them cool completely like this.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. (You're going to turn the oven temp down to 325 degrees once you put the cakes in the oven.)

Grease and flour two 8" round cake pans or three 6" round cake pans.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk.

In another bowl, combine the sour cream, milk, oil, vanilla, almond and eggs. Mix well with a whisk.

Now cut your butter into chunks. Turn your mixer on low and add in the butter slowly to your dry ingredients. Mix on low to medium until all the flour is coated with the butter and the mixture is crumbly.

Pour in about a third of the liquid mixture. Mix on low to medium until combined. About 30 seconds.

Pour the last of the liquid mixture and mix again until combined. Don't overmix the batter.

Use a rubber spatula and scrape the sides of the bowl. Mix again for only about 10 to 15 seconds.

Pour into prepared pans.

Slide into the oven and turn the oven temp down to 325 degrees.

Bake approximately 40-45 minutes.

Set on wire racks to cool for ten minutes, then turn the cakes out onto the racks and let them cool out of the pans completely.

Video

Notes

Cake layers can be frozen for later use.

For cupcakes: Fill the cupcake wrappers just slightly over half full. Bake at 350 degrees (don't turn the oven down to 325 like the cake). Bake for about 25 - 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

UPDATE!!! I got a very good question in the comments below: Can you use this recipe for cupcakes? I’ve tried it and YES, they make great cupcakes! Here are my tips though: If you’re using this recipe for cupcakes, you’ll want to leave the oven temp at 350 degrees. Fill your cupcake wrappers just slightly more than half full. Bake them at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. Let them cool on a wire rack.

Ok, now I’m off to go and eat a slice.

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Hi Corinna, Yes, you can use this recipe for cupcakes. Here are my tips though: Fill the cupcake wrappers to just slightly more than half full, then bake the cupcakes at a straight 350 degrees. (Don’t turn the oven down to 325 like the cake.) It won’t hurt them if you do, they just may not rise as high with a nice pretty dome. Bake them for about 25 minutes on 350. Hope you enjoy them!

Hi Christina. Yes you can omit the almond emulsion. I really like it because I think it brings out the other flavors, but if you don’t have any or you don’t prefer the taste, just omit it from the recipe. You don’t need to make any adjustments to the other ingredients. The cake will still turn out yummy 😉

Hi Gena, I use LorAnn’s vanilla bean paste and I just store it in my pantry. I’ve never refrigerated mine and it’s worked great for me. I haven’t used other brands, but I love the LorAnns. You can use it in place of practically any recipe calling for vanilla extract. Just make sure you shake the bottle up a bit before measuring it out. It’s much thicker than extract.

So…complete dummy (mummy brain) moment but after my cakes were in the oven I realised that I didn’t add the milk!!OMG!!! I thought the batter looked thick.. they came out looking nice and moistened but since this is a paid cake gig… what do you think will be the outcome? Would you risk it or remake them??

I haven’t had that happen to me with this recipe, so I wouldn’t add or take out anything. I do have some tips for you though. Follow the mixing method exactly and make sure the butter is just barely cooler than room temp. Also make sure to not overbeat the batter as this can sometimes make the cake come out dense. Another thing is to check and make sure your baking powder is fresh. Let me know if you have any questions. 🙂

I had the same problem with density. The inside of the cake doesnt look like the flakey fluffy cake look in the photos. It looks more like soft white bread however the taste is amazing. The butter took forever to break up and it had stood at room temp for some time. I baked for 40 minutes. Should it maybe take the full 45 minutes?

Hi Jean, The cake should come out less dense than that. You did use cake flour and not all purpose flour, right? Overmixing will make it come out more dense as well. The butter temp should be slightly cooler than room temp and when mixed with the flour mixture, it should resemble a sand-like texture. If the butter is too cold, it won’t incorporate well, but if it’s too soft and warm, then it could possibly make the cake too dense. Another thing that could have happened is possibly overmixing once you’ve got all the ingredients together. You just want to mix until it’s all incorporated. You don’t want to mix it for a couple minutes…not saying that’s what you did, but just throwing some things out there. 😉 Perhaps it needed more baking, I can’t be sure though unless I see it. To test for doneness, you could use the toothpick method. It should have a few soft crumbs on the toothpick when you pull it out. I hope this helps some.

Thank you for the response Kara: I did use cake flour and I mixed no more than 30 seconds to incorporate the ingredients. You make an interesting point with the butter. I had a hard time getting the butter blended with the flour It was, I thought, not soft enough but maybe I have to cut it in smaller pieces before adding to the flour? I wish I could upload a photo of the cake to you. I baked it for 40 minutes. Perhaps I should go to the 45 minutes suggested in the recipe next time. The flavor was absolutely luscious. I just want to perfect it and get the correct density.

Jean, yes definitely cut up the butter into pieces. I usually cut each stick into about eight pieces. That’s basically about a tablespoon size. Add about a chunk or two at a time when mixing it into the flour. That should help it incorporate better. I would try that and then maybe bake a tad bit longer.

Hi Ashley, I wouldn’t recommend omitting the sour cream. It would throw the ingredient ratios off a bit and I couldn’t promise you’d get the right texture in your cake. The sour cream helps a lot with getting a moist cake and a delicate texture. You could try subbing in buttermilk, but the texture may be a bit different.

Have you ever used this recipe to make a wedding cake? We had a vanilla cake testing at my daughter’s bridal shower and let the guests choose the cake for her wedding cake. Your recipe was the clear winner. We plan to make a 12, 9,6 inch tiered wedding cake. We will split the layers and fill them with pistachio, peach, and rhubarb fillings. Any suggestions on amounts and time/temperatures for baking? Thanks

Hi Pamela, That is awesome to hear that they liked it so much! It’s my favorite too. Ok, onto your question: Yes and I plan to use it again on a wedding cake I’m doing for a friend in September. I haven’t made a 12″ tier from it though. The largest tier was a 10″ and I’ve only used buttercream between the layers, so not sure about the fruit filling. Here’s what I would try though: Normally I don’t split layers, I just make three layers for one tier and put the filling between each layer. Basically there would be three layers of cake and two layers of filling for one tier…then move on to the other two tiers and I’d do the same. If you go with the fruit filling, my suggestion is to spread just a bit of buttercream between each layer (almost like a crumb coat)…just a thin layer. Then pipe a thickened buttercream dam just around the inside of that layer and then fill it with the fruit filling. That will keep the filling from squishing out of the sides and from soaking straight into the cake too much and making it unstable. Also, make sure to use the dowels for support (I’m sure you already know this, you sound experienced.) I usually use the hard plastic straw-like dowels…I find them on Global Sugar Art. I use the larger white ones and then add in the smaller yellow ones in between. (Yea, I kind of dowel like a crazy person, but I like to be safe.) As far as the amounts and baking time, I’d mix up one recipe for just the 12″ cake. You’ll have maybe a couple cups of batter left over after filling your pan, but you can just make some cupcakes out of that…then you can treat yourself for all your hard work 😉 I would start by adding maybe 10 minutes to the baking time and just watch it from there. I like to use a heating core when I bake large cakes like that. It really helps them to bake evenly when they’re that large. As far as the other layers, you can get three 6″ layers out of one recipe and you can probably get two 9″ layers out of one recipe. Those you would just bake the normal way. By the way, I freeze all mine ahead of time. Maybe just a couple weeks ahead of the wedding. They taste just as good, if not better after they defrost and you don’t have to stress yourself out if something goes wrong at the last minute. When you defrost, just remember to defrost them on the counter still in their wrappings, so condensation doesn’t get on the cakes. Ok, I think I’ve written you an entire novel here…I get long winded. 😉 I hope this helps!

The wedding cake was a huge success. We used a mascarpone frosting. We were worrying that the bottom 12 inch layer was underdone but it tasted great and did not collapse(thanks to the dowels you recommended). I would include a picture but can’t figure out how. Thank you for all of your advice. Pam

I haven’t made half the recipe, but I’m sure it will be just fine. I know it’s weird about the eggs because you can’t really get half an egg. lol What you can do, and I’ve done this before in recipes, is use one whole egg and then just the egg-white of the second egg. It’s worked for me in the past. Let me know how it goes!

Oh no! I’ve got some tips for you that you can try next time. It’s hard for me to know exactly what went wrong, but I’m going to make some guesses here and hopefully it will be helpful to you. You mentioned in another comment that the cupcakes were rubbery on the outside and under-cooked on the inside. That could just be under baking, or perhaps the oven temp was too low. Check your oven and make sure it’s accurate. Also I bake the cupcakes at a different temp than baking a full cake. You may have seen this, but at the bottom of the post, there are separate instructions for cupcakes. You want to keep the oven temp at 350 degrees. As far as the cake coming out rubbery, the first thing I think of besides under-baking and the oven temp, is that the batter may have been over-beaten. It’s real easy to do that, so don’t be hard on yourself. That’s usually what it is if a cake is coming out rubbery. The gluten is over-developed. Also, be careful not to be mixing on high. Some other things to think about. Make sure you’re using cake flour and not regular all-purpose flour and that you’re spooning your flour into the measuring cup and not scooping it and adding it to your batter. That will pack down the flour and essentially adds too much to your batter. Ok, I hope that helps a little! Let me know how it goes if you try it again 🙂

I would use one entire recipe to fill one 12 inch square pan. That means one recipe for each 12″ layer. Just do it all again for how ever many layers you need. Also it’s best to use a heating core for larger layers like that. It’ll help it bake more evenly. Let me know how it goes!

I made this recipe and love it. The cake for my 8″ wasn’t rising to the top of the pan so next time I made it I multiplied the recipe by 1-1/2 and it was perfect I put parchment paper collar and it raised nicely. So my question is how many times would I have to the multiply for a cake 12x 18 cake?

So glad you liked the recipe! For one layer of a 12×18 pan, (if the pan is 2 inches deep) I would probably shoot for a recipe and a half up to two recipes. That’s a large cake. If you’re worried a recipe and a half might not be enough, I’d just do two recipes and fill the pan up three quarters of the way up and any left over amount of batter, you can just make some cupcakes out of it. I’m sure you’ll find someone to eat the extra cupcakes, or do like I do and just keep them for yourself 😉 Also, you may want to use a heating core when you bake the cake. It’s a large cake, so a heating core in the middle will help it rise and bake more evenly. Hope this helps!

Kara this might be dumb question but I see it alot and I live in Canada so things are a bit different. When it comes to “whole milk” what exactly is that? I know it has a higher fat content. Our mil here is skim, 1%, and 2% then you get into your creams. I do also shop in the states as I live on the border of Michigan. Is it called “whole milk” in the states?

Hi Kim, There are no dumb questions! 😉 In the states, we also have skim, 1%, 2% and then whole…after that it goes into half and half cream and then heavy whipping cream. It should be fine for you to just use the 2% milk. I’ve done that on occasion and it’s worked just fine for me. You might even test out using the next level up from your 2% (maybe the least heavy cream…if that makes sense) and see how that goes. It might actually make a really moist and rich cake. Let me know how it goes!

Ok I have made this recipe several times now and even the cupcake version! I am so glad I came across your site and your blog post about trying an homemade version 1 more time ( i had many failed attempts). I am glad I listened and tried it. IT’S THE BEST!!!! I am never using any other recipe or box version again. Your recipe is so easy to follow also. I have gotten so many compliments on how it tastes. LOVE the Almond Emulsion tip. I think that is a hidden gem in it! Thanks soooooooo much Kara for sharing what you love with us. Keep it coming….lol…. What about a Spice Cake? Would love your version on that as we come into fall.

Yes! So, glad you tried one more scratch cake recipe! It really is possible to get a moist and great tasting scratch vanilla cake. And I agree with you…that small touch of almond emulsion makes all the difference. So glad you liked it and so glad you let me know! Oh, and I’ve got some really tasty scratch cakes coming up for that fall season 😉

Hi. I’m also Canadian and whole milk is our homogenized milk which is 3.25 % fat. I have made this recipe a couple of times already and used homogenized milk and the cake was amazing . Hope that helps.

Hi Heidi, Yes this cake will work under fondant. I know that some people like to start decorating their cakes when they’re partly frozen, but I find when I do that, I have issues with condensation and icing blow outs because of the moisture. I always let mine defrost fully in their wrappings and on the counter before I even start decorating. Different people have their preferences and I’m just in the ‘decorate room temperature cake’ camp. 😉

Ok let me just say ” TOO DIE FOR!!!! I made this recipe this weekend and i have tried many recipes with zero sucess and having to resort to box mixes. Now I am not sure what to do with the 20 cakes mixes I just bought…lol… This recipe is AMAZING!! it worked out perfectly. It was so moist and melt in your mouth goodness. Funny thing my son says “Mommy there is dirt in this cake”, I said OMG really…. it was the Vanilla bean paste…lol…… Ok maybe this is just to good to be true so I put it through test#2 ” my fussy eater kids, and daughter who doesn’t like cake or icing”, well guess what? She LOVED it!! So needless to say “out with old, in with the new”- this is my go to recipe now. I made cake and cupcakes and both were awesome.

Thank-you so much for you post about trying ” a from scratch recipe” glad I didn’t give up.

Well you just made my day! ? I’m so glad you liked it! I was dying laughing about the ‘dirt in the cake’ comment. Vanilla beans do kind of look like dirt specks don’t they. ?? And it doesn’t get any better than cake that’s kid approved…that’s great. Thanks for the wonderful comment!

Hi Kara, Love the Recipe! Delish, my family was in awe of the flavor! I just started baking scratch cakes and bought Fat Daddios Cake Pan Set of 3, Round 3 Inches (4″, 6″, 8″) 3 inch deep. I am having a problem with the middle of my cakes sinking. I checked my baking powder and it expires 11/2017 and I was very conscience not to over mix. Any advice would be much appreciated! Oh and do you use the paddle or whisk attachments for your recipe?

Hi Victoria, I sent you an email with a picture attached, but just in case it doesn’t come through, I’ll answer here as well. I’m so glad you like the flavor of this cake. It’s my favorite…as the name implies 😉 I have several suggestions for you. The first thing that came to mind was overmixing, but you mentioned that you were very careful not to do that. You mentioned checking the baking powder, but I’d also check the baking soda as well.

The next thing would be underbaking. If you pull a cake out too early, the middle will sink. It may still taste done, but the very middle will be slightly less done than the outside. Try leaving it in another five minutes and then taking out to see if that helps.

Also, make sure you’re reducing the temperature from 350 degrees when you preheated the oven, down to 325 degrees when you pop in the cake.

And to answer your question, I use the paddle attachment (I think KitchenAid calls it the flat beater attachment). I use that on pretty much everything…unless it’s dirty and I have to use the whisk attachment 😉

Another thing to note is that cakes with sour cream, don’t usually come out with a higher dome on them. They are, by nature, a little flatter on top. Also, the method for this cake is the reverse creaming method, so that also creates a flatter top on a cake. They shouldn’t sink though. Make sure you’re not opening the oven until the minimum baking time is reached.

One more thing, you mentioned you are using 3 inch tall pans. I normally us 2 inch tall pans. So if you baked in 2, 8 inch round pans that were 3 inches deep, the cake probably won’t rise all the way to the top of the pan, since the recipe was written for 2 inch pans. You could certainly double the batter and fill the pans up a bit more if you wanted.

Also when my cakes are cooling in the pan, I only cool them for ten minutes in the pan, then turn them upside down and out of the pan to cool fully on a rack.

Do you use the whole egg? Usually on a “white” cake it only calls for the whites? Am so anxious to try your recipe but I’ll have to shop for the vanilla bean paste first. Also, tell more about the “heating core?” Sounds like that would certainly be a help with the bigger and/or deeper pans. Thanks so much for your ideas (and the recipe)!

Yes for this vanilla bean cake, I use whole eggs. The cake is not going to be white, but more of an off-white. I prefer using whole eggs because of the flavor and moisture it gives to the cake. It’s sort of a trade off as far as color goes, but when I was doing cakes for clients, no one ever had an issue with the cake not being bright white. They just wanted a good vanilla flavor. If you try out the recipe, I’d love to hear how it goes! As far as the heating core…you can usually pick up one of these at any craft store. I use them on large cakes that are larger than 10 inches. They help the cake to bake more evenly. Also be sure if you use one, to grease that the same way as you grease your pan. Hope this helps!

Hello! I wanted to make this cake in the morning, but only have pure vanilla extract instead of the bean paste. Do I use the same exact measurements for the extract as you put for the bean paste? Thanks!

Alyssa, Yes…vanilla extract will work just fine. Use the same measurement as the vanilla bean paste. In fact I made this cake this weekend and had run out of vanilla bean paste, so I used regular extract myself 😉

Hi! Cutting the sugar way down will affect the texture. Sugar brings moisture to the cake and tenderizes it, so while you could probably get away with slightly reducing it, using less than half of the recipe I’m afraid would cause a big difference in the texture and moistness of the cake. You could always try it out though…it may surprise us both!

Hi Kara I tried your Vanilla Bean cake recipe and the results were awesome. I gave it to my friend for her wedding anniversary and they loved it. I also tried the vanilla buttercream. It tasted great however I had some difficulty due to the temperature in my country. Its usually about 30 degrees celcius most days. How can I keep the icing from melting so quickly? I noticed that the butter was separating from the sugar in small clumps.

All in all I really enjoyed doing this cake project. Thank you very much. Giselle

Hi Giselle, I’m so glad you liked the vanilla bean cake! It’s one of my absolute favorites. I live in Texas, so it’s usually hot here as well, so I feel your pain about keeping buttercream from melting. I’ve got a couple suggestions. You can add another cup of powdered sugar to thicken it up a bit, or just add a bit less milk. This will make the buttercream a bit more firm, so it won’t melt quite as quickly. Another thing you might have to do if you’ll have the cake outside for any length of time, is to use vegetable shortening (Crisco, Trex etc.). Replace half the amount of butter with the vegetable shortening. This makes a more heat-stable buttercream. I’d replace the salted butter with the shortening and then add in a pinch of salt. Salted butter seems to melt quicker to me…I don’t have any real scientific explanation for that other than I think it has a bit more water content, but anyway it’s just something I’ve noticed. So, basically, use half unsalted butter and half shortening and that’ll make it firmer. You could use all shortening, but then you won’t get that delicious buttery flavor. Hope this helps!

I’m writing from a tiny island in the Mediterranean…Malta. Your recipe looks fantastic. My daughter will be turning 2 and I want to make a cake for her to take to school. I’ve already tried 3 different recipes but I’m not too happy with any of them.

Can you kindly suggest a substitute for the sour cream? It’s not an ingredient we normally use and it’s quite hard to find it in stores.

Hi Eleanor, You can try to use full fat buttermilk for the sour cream. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can pour one cup of whole milk into a bowl or glass, then take out one tablespoon of it. Add back in a tablespoon of either vinegar or lemon juice, stir it and then let it set like that for about five minutes. Stir again and then add to the batter when called for in the recipe. I haven’t tried this substitution with this cake recipe, so I can’t promise it’s going to come out perfect, but that’s my best guess for substituting. I’m just a huge fan of sour cream in cakes, because it really makes them moist, but I understand some ingredients are hard to get in different areas. Anyway, with the substitution, it may not come out quite as moist, so just be careful not to over bake it because that can dry it out even further. Let me know how it goes!

I managed to find the soured cream when I had lost hope completely, but not the cake flour 🙂 I made my own with all-purpose flour and cornstarch. I also added rainbow sprinkles. The result was fantastic. Your recipe lived up to its promise. Will surely re-use…next time will be lemon flavour followed by chocolate-chip. Thank you.

Yay!! I’m so glad you found the sour cream and it all worked out! And I think adding chocolate chips to it would be amazing as well. I do have a lemon cake recipe. It’s a little different than the vanilla one, but it still uses sour cream. If you want to check it out, you can find it here: https://iscreamforbuttercream.com/lemon-sour-cream-cupcakes-lemon-buttercream/ Glad you liked the vanilla cake! 🙂

Hi. I am new to all of this but I want to make this cake for my children’s birthday. However, I wanted to make it in the rainbow layers. Will the food coloring mes up the batter? Any suggestions on the best way to achieve this goal? Will the layers hold up or is the cake to delicate? I plan to use your icing recipe as well. Any advise is greatly appreciated.

Hi Amanda, This cake does have a soft crumb, but it’s on the more dense side, rather than delicate. It’s not a heavy cake by any means, but it’s not so delicate that you can’t stack it. I’ve stacked it many times and even put fondant over it. It holds up well and stays moist. A s far as adding food coloring to it, it’s better to use the gel food coloring. You can get that at any craft store like Michael’s or Hobby Lobby, if you’re in the US. It’s much thicker and more concentrated, so you don’t have to add as much and it won’t add too much liquid to the cake batter like the liquid food coloring does. Do you live by a Wal-Mart? They sometimes carry the gel food coloring in the craft section of the store, over by the cake and wedding DIY aisle. (It’s actually not in the baking aisle where the liquid food coloring is…kinda weird it’s not though.)

The only thing I would be really mindful of is when you’re adding the color to your cake batter, be very careful to stop mixing once the color is incorporated. Scratch cakes can bake unevenly or straight up fall in the middle if you over-mix the batter, so just be mindful of that. I’m a big fan of doing test cakes. I know sometimes people think that’s a pain to do, but you’ll at least know if it’ll work out and about how long you can mix it…plus you’ll get to eat the entire test cake 😉

I’d be sure and use the gel colors when coloring the buttercream as well. It’ll give a much brighter color without watering down the icing like the liquid color does. Hope this helps!

Yes, I have used this recipe for a fondant covered tiered cake and it worked for me. I’ve also heard from someone else who sent me a comment that it worked for them as well. My only tip is just to make sure you dowel it properly, but I’m sure you know that already 😉

Hi Cheryl, You can surely make cream cheese frosting, but that’s very similar to buttercream actually. Essentially it’s just using cream cheese in place of some of the butter. I’ve got a cream cheese frosting on my blog here: https://iscreamforbuttercream.com/cream-cheese-buttercream/ I think the vanilla buttercream would be better on a vanilla cake though…that’s just my opinion. Don’t be apprehensive about making buttercream. It really is easy to make and so delicious. If you try it out, let me know what you think!

Hello! I’m planning to make your cake for my daughters 4th birthday. She wants a vanilla cake, and I’ve never found a white cake I love, so I’m hoping this cake will change my view. 😉 I am using a white flour milled from heritage wheat bc I have a wheat intolerance, but can easily tolerate older versions of the grain. I’ve made other cakes that call for All pourpose flour with the heritage flour and they’ve turned out just as delicious and moist. I’m wondering if you have any tips since I’m not using cake flour. I’m guessing I should sift before measuring but any other tips would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Hi Kathleen, I have two suggestions you could try. You can make your own cake flour from the regular flour you have by adding in some cornstarch. Here’s how to do it: Take one cup of the white flour, take out two tablespoons of it and then add two tablespoons of cornstarch back in. Then sift it well. If you’re unable to use cornstarch or don’t have any, then I would just use the white flour you have and lesson the amount by two tablespoons per cup of flour called for in the recipe. So for each cup of flour you add, take out two tablespoons and then just follow the same mixing method in the recipe. Hope that all made sense and I hope it helps. Let me know how it goes!

The cake was a hit!! So many complements about the texture and flavor. I frosted it with a Swiss Buttercream recipe I have used several times before, and added some vanilla paste to it. It was a two tier cake decorated for my daughter’s requested “swan ballet” party. I used fondant, gum paste and gold paint to add decorations (my first time using either of those). Is there anywhere I can send you a photo?

I purchased the gum paste and fondant pre-made and rolled it out, but I’m wondering if you have a recipe for both or either that you like.

Also- I had left a previous comment but it never posted. I didn’t have any corn starch on hand, so I removed 2 TBS of flour per cup as you suggested. It worked great! Glad to have that trick under my belt now. Also, I made three batches (both because of the size of cake I wanted and because we just moved and our new oven is old and uneven so one of my cakes sunk- yay for upcoming kitchen remodel!) I loved the extra flavor of the almond emulsion, but since the cake was for my vanilla loving 4 year old, I decided to double the vanilla and cut the almond in 1/2 for 2nd and 3rd batch. It turned out tasting more vanilla-ie and slightly less almond-ie in my opinion….but for my adult friends, I’d stick with the original version of this cake.

Hi, I did see the previous comment…I have to approve them manually and it takes me a bit to do it, which is probably why it didn’t show up there for a minute. I’m so glad everyone liked the cake! And thanks for letting me know the trick worked. That’s really good to know. Oh, and I feel your pain about old ovens. Awhile back, we did a partial remodel of our kitchen, so now I’ve got a new oven, but our old one always over-browned on one side and the entire thing was unlevel, so it made for really interesting looking cakes!

Oh I’m so glad it it worked out and I’d love a photo! You can email me at kara@iscreamforbuttercream, or you can tag me on Instagram at #iscreamforbuttercream and I’ll see it there. As far as fondant and gumpaste go…I usually just purchase my gumpaste. It’s just easier for me. As for fondant, I make a hybrid of purchased fondant and marshmallow fondant. I use Liz Marek’s recipe from Sugar Geek Show. I’ve tried tons of different recipes and brands of fondant and this has worked the best for me. The work-ability is very good and it’s easy to get it smooth. Fondant reacts to different environments, so depending on where you live, this may or may not be a good fit for you, but for me it works great. Here’s the link if you’d like to try it out: https://sugargeekshow.com/recipe/lmf-fondant-recipe/

Hi Lisa, it may have been over-baked, but I have a few questions and a couple tips. Does it seem overcooked on the edges? What’s the middle like? Does it seem done in the middle? Make sure for a larger cake, that the temp is set to 325 degrees. For the larger cakes, it needs to bake low and slow. Also, for that size you’ll need to use a heat core in the middle. That’ll help it bake more evenly. Larger cakes are notorious for baking unevenly. In general, a larger cake like that might come out a little more browned than a smaller size, just because sometimes you end up having to bake it a little longer than the smaller ones. Let me know if I can help further!

Thank you Kara. I suspect I over did it. The center is cooked, but it is much darker than when I used your recipe before for a smaller cake. By the way, this is a wonderful cake! It came out so well before, that I decided to use it as the base layer for my daughters wedding cake. I did use a flower nail in the center, as I do not have a heat core. But I did not lower the temperature, so I suspect that may be part of the problem. I will try it again tomorrow. This one is not pretty enough to serve for the wedding I am afraid. Lisa

Yeah I think that’s probably it. Baking at 350 would bake it but would over-brown the top. I think switching to 325 will be perfect. So glad you like the recipe! Oh and hey…now you get to snack on a 14 inch trial run cake! 😉

Hi Kara, I’ve learned a lot from your tutorials/baking blogs and videos and I also I like to try your Vanilla Bean Cake with your Vanilla Bean Buttercream for my daugther’s 1st Birthday in two weeks time. I will make a 6inch cake with 3 stacks. I will put my homemade marshmallow fondant icing on top of the vanilla bean buttercream to decorate for the Minnie Mouse theme. I will watch your free course on how to do fondant ruffles for the design of the cake like a tutu. And I will also make 2 dozens of cupcakes using the same recipe. think I am running out of time, I don’t want to rush and stress myself. I don’t know which one I can do in advance or which one to do first. Would you mind helping me on what to do first and the timeline? It is my first time to bake a cake. And I am wondering how many grams of butter is a (2 sticks of butter). I am from Australia and our one stick of butter here is 250g. Thank you in advance.

Hi Leah, I’ll start with the butter question before I forget to answer it. 2 sticks of butter here in the US is a cup of butter. I looked it up and google says a cup of butter is equal to 340g. Ok, onto the the timeline question. If this were a project I was doing, here’s what I would do: I’d go ahead and bake the cakes now and freeze them. Make sure to freeze them properly, so they don’t get freezer burn (there’s a blog post about that as well). Several days before the party, I’d make the buttercream and just keep it in the fridge. Early, the day before the party, or even the day before that, take out your frozen cakes and let them thaw on the counter in their wrappings. Once thawed, take the wrappings off, then stack the layers and ice them. At that point, you’ll want to let the cake layers settle. Cover the cake in saran wrap for at least several hours before putting on the fondant. If you don’t let your cake layers settle at least several hours before adding fondant, it could cause a blow out of the fondant later on or bulges or ridges in your cake when it finally does settle. Once the cake is settled (either for several hours or overnight), cover with fondant later that day and then you can work on adding the ruffles. The ruffles are going to take you some time. They are very time intensive, so leave yourself a lot of time for that. I wouldn’t do that the morning of the party. I’d do it the day before. You can either bake the cupcakes the morning of the party, or the day before, while you’re waiting for your cake layers to settle. So, basically you don’t need to do everything the day of the party…that’s too much and would stress anyone out. Either start early the day before, or even the day before that. The cake will still be good and you don’t even need to refrigerate it unless the filling or buttercream is perishable and American Buttercream isn’t. Once the cake is covered in buttercream and fondant, it’s sealed and it will still taste fresh the next day, and even for a couple days after that. Hope all this helps!

Hello Kara, I’ve made the cake yesterday and it was a disaster. I followed the procedures on how to bake them and I even made sure that the measurements for the ingredients are correct. The oven temp is 190C then turned down to 180C. Most of the outside of the cake were burnt and the top cracked. But when I removed all the burnt crust and the dome, there were only half an inch left on the three cakes however the inside are moist and tasty…sadly I couldn’t use them to make the bday cake. I don’t know what I did wrong. I used a 6×3 “ anodized round pan. My oven rack was in the middle. I don’t have an oven thermometer so I am not sure if the heat are even or correct.

And then I did another batch of the cake today. I lowered the temp to just 175C and lowered down the oven rack (just below the middle). Thinking that maybe the oven was too hot when I did my first batch yesterday. I watched, I even sat down infront of the oven just to make sure that it will not burn. At first everything looks good, but after passing the 25mins time, the top was starting to cracked. So I checked if it is already done but the inside was still raw…then the cracked became bigger and the cake getting brown and brown and brown. And when it was done (35mins), I have a dark brown cake with a big crack in the middle. Not that bad like on my first batch but still it doesn’t look right.

I will try to make another batch again tomorrow…and the big day is getting near and I haven’t done anything yet. Sorry for this long story. I just don’t know what I am doing wrong…

Oh no Leah! Ok, it looks like the Fahrenheit to Celsius conversion is wrong. I went to a conversion chart online and it says for 350 Fahrenheit, it should be about 175 Celsius and then once you get the cake in the oven, turn it down to 160 Celsius. Everything that’s happening just points directly to the oven being too hot. I think this should fix the issue. I’ve only baked this in a 2 inch high pan and I haven’t tried a 3 inch, but I don’t think that would make too much difference. You can even try baking it start to finish at 160 – 165. I’m crossing my fingers, but I think this will fix the problem. Let me know how it goes!

Hello Kara, thank you so much for your prompt reply. I really appreciate it. I did it! I have baked two batches of 3 6 inch cakes. They look good and not brown. I did two batches coz I just want to make sure that everything will be okay and I will have extra cake in case one of the cake will have a problem. I am not a perfectionist but I like this cake to be perfect 🙂

I did what you told me. I lowered the oven temp to 160C for 30-35mins and put the oven rack in the middle. Will it work for my cupcakes this oven temp and time?

I will do the buttercream icing tonight and will ice the cake so it can settle for tomorrow for the fondant and decorating. And hopefully I can bake the cupcakes and put the frosting also. Time will fly fast tomorrow. Then Sunday is the BIG day! Yay!

Yay! I’m so glad it worked!! I hope I’m not responding too late about the cupcakes…we’ve got a time difference going on. Anyway, for the cupcakes, I’d fill them a bit over half full and then bake them at 175 C for about 25-30 minutes.

Hi Kara, finally I have finished decorating the cake and the cupcakes. Putting on the fondant on the cake is not an easy thing to do. I’ve messed up my homemade marshmallow fondant (cracking so much) and need to buy a ready to rolled fondant outside in a rushed. I tried to do the ruffles but I have had a hard time doing it so I just improvised a design for the bottom of the cake. Everything looked okay but after an hour or two…I have noticed a hair line cracked from the bottom going up…the crack is getting a bit bigger and going up and up. The bad thing is, it is infront of the cake where it is visible. I hope that when I wake up tomorrow morning the crack will not getting more bigger and longer. Is there anything I can do to fix it? My cupcakes are pretty good. My hubby and my eldest son couldn’t wait and ate a cupcake. They really liked it. Thank you Kara for helping me all through out these new baking experience.

Hi Leah, there’s not much you can do to fix a crack in the fondant, short of recovering the cake. Fondant is just really tricky to work with and just takes a lot of practice. Don’t feel discouraged though…it happens to all of us. Hopefully the crack didn’t get worse. The main thing is to allow the cake to settle before adding the fondant and not to have too much buttercream under it. Fondant is just tricky. I bet she will love it though regardless of the crack in the fondant!

Hi Kara, glad the birthday party went well. They loved the cake and the cupcakes (I’ve made 36 good size cupcakes from your Vanilla Bean Cake recipe). I’ve got a lot of compliments when they saw the cake. I will surely keep your cake and buttercream recipe on my favorite recipe collection…your recipe is a keeper! By the way, I think that’s why the fondant cracked is because I put too much buttercream on the cake. I don’t have a smoother that’s why my buttercream was bumpy. Anyway, all is done and went well and tasted good. Hope I can attached some photo of the cake and cupcakes so you can see it. Thanks again Kara for the big help during this stressful but fun days of baking the cake for my daughter’s 1st birthday. God bless you always.

Hi there, You can use the 6″ and 8″ pans. You’ll probably have a bit of batter left over, since the recipe will fill two 8″ pans, but that’s perfectly okay. Keep the heat the same as the recipe calls for…it should be just fine. 🙂

I’ve heard of replacing the eggs with yogurt, but I’ve never actually tried it before. I’ll be honest though…I almost never have yogurt on hand. If you try it, I’d love to know how it turns out! I’m thinking the cake may turn out a bit dense though, but it’s worth experimenting I think.

Tried out the Eggless version of this cake and I got to say it came out pretty well. The taste was amazing. Couple of things though, the top was cracked, and I probably needed more than 45 mins in the oven as it was slightly under done (don’t know if that was because of the yoghurt). Also, could we slightly reduce the sugar as it was a little on the sweet side and didn’t have any icing on it? Took a couple of pics of you were interested in having a look. Great cake though!

Thanks for the update! I was interested in how it would turn out. Yes, I’d like to see some pics. If you’d like to email them to me, you can send them to kara@iscreamforbuttercream.com I think it should be okay to reduce the sugar a bit if you’d like. Generally I’d say no, but I think with the added yogurt etc., it might be okay. Just make sure not to reduce it too much, or it’ll affect the moistness and the texture. I’d try reducing by 1/2 a cup at first and see how that goes. Glad it turned out well!

You could do that, but the layers would be thinner and it might need to bake for a less amount of time, since they batter won’t be as thick in the pans. What you could do is to add another 1/2 of the recipe when you mix it up, then you’ll get the proper amount of cake batter to fill the two 10 inch pans. So essentially, mix up a recipe and a half, then fill the two, 10 inch pans. Hope this helps!

Hi Kara Jane! I can’t wait to give this recipe a try. Unfortunately, I will have to leave out the almond emulsion for allergy purposes. I am, however, making this for my sons 5th birthday party and he has requested a ‘sprinkles’ or ‘funfetti’ cake. Is it possible to add 1/2 cup of rainbow jimmies to the batter without it affecting the overall texture and moisture? Any idea or tips? I really want to love this recipe as I have tried many white cake recipes which have all left me wanting to find another lol. Thanks for sharing! Kristel

Hi Kristel, I think adding in the rainbow jimmies will be just fine. I can’t think of any reason that it would change the texture, so I think you’re good to go on that. I WILL say though that this cake isn’t bright white, like some of the funfetti cakes are, because it’s got vanilla bean and whole eggs in it…that’s what makes it so good though. I’m actually working on a bright white version now, but it’s not yet ready to post. Anyway just be aware it’ll have a vanilla color to it (like the pics show), but it’s SO tasty. And no worries on omitting the almond emulsion, it’ll still taste good. We don’t want him to be allergic to his own birthday cake! Let me know how it all turns out! 🙂

Hi again Kara Jane! Just wanted to let you know I did a test run with the cake recipe without the jimmies (just to see how the cake itself would turn out on it’s own) and I’m writing to say ‘WOW’! I bake soooo much and this is the first vanilla cake recipe I have made that is amazing!! I omitted the almond as mentioned and the vanilla flavour still shined through. However, the texture of this cake is to die for… so tender and moist but not dense. This is THE vanilla cake recipe I have been searching my whole life for lol. Thank you so much again for sharing. I am definitely going to try your other cake recipes now. Absolute perfection! Wish me luck with the rainbow jimmies! 🙂 Kristel

Oh yay!!! I’m so glad you liked it! 🙂 I really think the secret is the combination of sour cream and using cake flour. Really, I think sour cream makes everything better 😉 Good luck adding the rainbow jimmies…I think it will be just fine. Let me know how it all turns out!

Hi Cheryl, So, to get it more white, you can do a couple different things. You can add just a tiny bit of violet food coloring, which basically cancels out the yellow tint. You can also replace half of the butter in the buttercream recipe with vegetable shortening. If you want a really bright white, you can even replace all of the butter with vegetable shortening. I’ve actually got a post I’m working on that’ll be out soon on how to make bright white heat stable buttercream, but essentially you’re just using shortening instead of butter and then adding in a little extra flavoring. If you can get hi-ratio shortening, it makes for a really smooth and creamy white icing, but regular vegetable shortening works too. You’ll also want to add a pinch of salt because the shortening will make the icing seem sweeter. Hope this helps!

Hi Kara I made this cake this weekend and followed your advice for the buttercream, using vegetable shortening…it was fabulous. The taste was lovely, and the cake so moist. I am converted… Thank you so much for your advice I can honestly say that we in Wales , UK loved the cake. I did send you a photo via email , so hope you received it. Many thanks Cher

Hi Kara Jane! I am making this cake for my boss’ birthday. I am using the actual vanilla beans and omitting the almond emulsion. Your recipe is exactly what I was looking for. She requested a vanilla only cake. I am doing a double layer 9″x13″ cake. Would I triple this recipe or would a double batch be enough? How many cups do you think would give me a nice size thickness?

Hi Kitty, Using actual vanilla beans sounds amazing! So, on to your question. Are you planning to bake 2, 13 x 9 cakes, or just one and then splitting it into two parts? One recipe will be enough for a 9×13″ pan. Depending on how tall your pan is though, I probably would just bake one recipe in it though. Doubling the batter will likely cause an overflow (unless your pan is unusually tall). Once you get the first one baked, you can always bake another 13×9″ layer. Then you can just layer the two. That way you’re not having to slice one 13×9″ cake into two perfect layers (which always causes headaches for larger rectangle cakes). Hope that made sense!

Thank you so much for your quick response Kara! I just love that you respond to everyone. Yes, I am making 2, 13×9″ cakes. I’m wondering if 1 whole vanilla bean would be enough for each cake. I want a rich vanilla flavor with the “dirt” in it as one mother said.

Oh, yes and that ‘dirt’ makes it SO good! lol! I did a quick google search and google says that one teaspoon of extract is equivalent to one inch of vanilla bean. The cake recipe calls for 1 Tbsp and since there’s three teaspoons in a tablespoon, that would be three inches of vanilla bean. That’s a lot and it would probably be okay to just use two inches if you wanted for each recipe. I hope this helps and do let me know how it turns out…I’m interested!

Hi there, i’m making a two tier cake for my sisters confirmation and was planing on using a 10in for the bottom and an 8 in for the top. I was just wondering how to adjust the recipe to make two 10in cakes? Thank you in advance!!

So this is an amazing recipe, the flavor and tenderness are to die for. But for the life of me I cannot get my cake to bake without rather large holes. Have you ever experienced this? I’m an experienced baker working with a commercial oven and I can’t figure out why every batch has holes! I’m timing my mixing so I don’t think it’s over mixing. Any advice would be appreciated!

Hi Barb, Hmmm…I haven’t had trouble with holes in this one, but I have a couple suggestions. The first one is…and you knew I would say this…try mixing just a bit less than you’re mixing. If you’re positive you’re not mixing too long, the other option is to try mixing at a lower speed. Something else to try…once you’ve poured your cake in your pans, try lightly dropping them on your counter a few times, so any air bubbles come up to the surface, then place them in the oven. You could also try sifting the dry ingredients. Sometimes that can help. Last, if nothing else will help, you might lower the leavener just a tad. I’d lower the baking soda by 1/4 tsp and see if that makes a difference. I’m so glad you liked the cake and hopefully one of these tips will help with the air bubbles!

I made a half recipe of your cake yesterday – it turned out great. I made it in a 8 in round 3 in deep pan and filled the pan about a little over half. It was about 1 in from the top. I am making a 10, 8, 6 in wedding cake this weekend (all 3″ deep) and would also like to make one 12×18 sheet cake. CAN YOU TELL ME HOW MANY RECIPES I WOULD NEED AND ALSO HOW HIGH TO FILL THE PANS? Thank you so much – we loved the cake…I just need it to rise to the top vs an inch from the top.

Hi Vicki, I normally use 2″ tall pans, so if you’re using 2, 3″ tall, 8″ round pans, I would make a recipe and a half. That should be plenty to fill the pans 2/3 of the way up. Ok, now onto the other sizes… and wow, you’re going to be making a lot of cake and I am SO coming to this wedding. Lol! Ok, I’m going to make some estimates here for the other pans, but just know when filling the pans, you’ll need to fill them about 2/3 of the way up. And for clarity’s sake, this is for 3″ tall pans and not the 2″ pans. For the 6″ round pans, one recipe should do it. We talked about the 8″ round pans above. For the 10″ round pans, I’d go for 2 to 2 1/2 recipes. For the 12 x 18 sheet cake, I’d maybe make two recipes just to be safe, but you may have a little batter left over. Okay, so these are all estimates…I’m not used to baking in 3″ tall pans, so just keep that in mind. 😉 Oh and hey, this cake freezes well and since you’re making so much, it might be helpful for you to freeze a couple of them ahead of time. Here’s a link to my freezing cakes post. It’ll go through how I freeze them without any freezer burn, why I think it actually makes cakes more moist to freeze them and how to properly defrost them so you don’t get too much condensation all over the cake layers. https://iscreamforbuttercream.com/freezing-cakes-and-cupcakes/ I hope this helps and let me know how it all goes!

Hmmm…well one recipe would make a 13×9 inch pan, so 1 1/2 might do the trick. Use your best judgement on that one. If you do two recipes and have leftever batter, you could just make some cupcakes out of it and then keep those for yourself. 😉

Do you sift then measure your cake flour for this particular recipe? I find that whenever I use cake flour in a recipe, it always needs to be sifted. But there’s often lots of variation between whether or not to sift before or after measuring in recipes, and also the number of times it needs to be sifted — cakes especially. Would greatly appreciate your method of prep on that particular step because I know how much it can impact the final product! Thanks bunches.

Hi Lauren, Those are good questions. I have to admit that I usually don’t sift. Not because of any huge reason or anything…it’s mainly just for simplicity sake. You can certainly sift if you’d like to as it definitely couldn’t hurt anything. For the recipes on my site, I would sift after measuring though.

Hi, I usually coat the pan in vegetable shortening and then flour it. Using the spray Pam has never worked really well for me. Some people love it, but greasing and flouring always seems to work better for me.

Hi Kara I am making my daughters wedding cake next month, possibly a little ambitious as I have never done a tiered cake but YouTube is very educational ? I have a few questions. Apart from the cake not rising all the way to the top is there any issue with using a taller pan than the one a recipe suggests? The wedding is on a Tuesday so I will be dropping the cake at the venue on the Monday I guess, how far ahead can I decorate the tiers and not have the cake suffer/go off/dry out? I plan on fondant coating. Lastly, the base tier ( at the moment I plan a 12,10,8 cake) will be a gender reveal for her baby which I just found out today is a girl, can you recommend quantities of gel colouring and any particular kind that you use to create a strong pink colour without affecting the cake bake? Thank you so much. Kate

My best advice is to dowel well between the tiers. You can even stack them at the venue, so you don’t have to drive with a stacked cake. As for your first question, it depends on how much taller the pan is that you’ll be using. If it’s not much, it just won’t rise all the way up like you said. If there’s too much of a difference, I’d make maybe a recipe and a half of batter, that way there would be more batter to fill the pans. As far as decorating ahead of time…it all depends on what you’ll be doing. If there aren’t perishable fillings and frostings, it’s okay to start a couple days before the event. Especially if it’s covered in fondant, because that will seal it. I wouldn’t start on it before Saturday because that would be longer than three days before it gets eaten on Tuesday. I usually try to stack and fill mine and let them settle over night if I can before covering with fondant. It will depend on how much decoration will be going on the cake whether you can start Sunday, or if you need to start Saturday night and let them settle overnight. Honestly I would be really nervous about setting the cake up at the venue the day before. I know you may not have a choice, being the Mother of the Bride and all, but that would make me nervous. Other vendors could bump it accidentally, or really anything could happen. I would see if I could get it there that morning. For the last question, I really like to use Americolor gel colors, or even the Wilton gel coloring. It’s thicker than just the liquid food coloring that tends to water everything down. I like the ‘electric colors’ from Americolor like electric blue or electric pink. They seem to be brighter. I’d add in a little more than you think you’ll need because the cake will brown a bit and have a yellow tint to it, so if there’s not enough blue coloring, then it’ll look a little green and the pink could look a little orange. Hope that makes sense. Ok I just wrote you a novel here, but I hope it helped!

Yes you can use real vanilla bean. I think it’s one inch of vanilla bean for every 1 teaspoon of vanilla paste or extract called for in the recipe. You don’t have to adjust any of the other ingredients, it shouldn’t affect the moisture.

Kara Jane, This recipes looks delicious and I’m anxious to try it. Lately, I’ve heard a lot about cake strips wrapped around the cake pan to bake the cake evenly, avoid doming and crusty edges. What is your take on this? Also, I see your cake baked evenly. Do you think your method of lowering the oven temperature from 350 to 325 is the key? Great blog and enjoy your posts. Joan

Hi Joan, For this cake, I like to have it at 350 starting out to just sort of give the rise a boost. In general, lowering the temp probably does help a bit by preventing a dome to form, but this recipe wouldn’t really make much of a dome anyway…mainly because of the amount and type of ingredients plus I’m using the reverse mixing method. I do like lowering the temp though because it browns the outside a little less. As far as the baking strips go, I’ve actually never tried them. I do use a heating core for pans that are larger than 10″. Some pans will bake more evenly than others though. I really like magic line pans. They feel much thicker than regular cake pans you can buy and they really do a good job of baking the cake layers evenly. I know there are a lot of bakers that like the baking strips or they’ll wrap damp cloths around their pans, but honestly I’ve never really done that and I think my magic line pans do an excellent job at baking evenly. I hope this helps!

Hi Tanya, I’m so glad you like it! As far as the sink hole goes…is it falling in the middle or are there tunnel like holes in it? Both of those problems can happen if it’s overmixed. Make sure your flour mixture is coated with the butter well before you add in the liquid. Then when you start adding in the liquid portion, try to just mix it until its combined. Don’t mix for several minutes each addition. Just mixed until incorporated. A lot of issues like that are from over beating your batter. In general, this cake has a rather flat top to it, but it shouldn’t sink. Try those tips and let me know what happens!

I made this Favorite Vanilla Bean cake in a 9 x 13 cake pan. It’s the best tasting vanilla cake I’ve ever put in my mouth. It Rocks and Rules!! It is moist and fluffy and DELICIOUS. Thanks Kara Jane for the recipe and for answering all of my questions along the way.

I would love to use this recipe for my daughter’s birthday party on Sunday. I have 2 questions…how does this cake stand up to deorating? I am worried that much a moist cake may not hold up well to fondant. Also, I need more than 12 serving…can I double the recipe and make 4 layers? Or can I double the recipe and make a sheet cake.

Oh, also could I make this recipe and use it for cake pops? I guess that was 3 questions 🙂

Hi Marisa, This cake should be fine under fondant. I’ve used it under fondant before and I’ve been told by others it worked as well. The serving size noted is just an average for ‘party’ slices. If you’re using it as a wedding cake, the slices can be cut smaller. You can always double it and make two more layers if you want and one recipe will be enough to make a 13 x 9 rectangle cake. As for cake pops, you can use this cake like any other cake recipe. Just bake the cake, let it cool, crumble it and add about a half a cup of buttercream and mix it all up. Try to roll a cake ball and see if it’s moist enough and sticks together fine. If it’s still crumbly, just a little more buttercream. Hope this helps!

Hi. I really want to try making your cake. It looks delicious. However i always like thin layers so i would want to split each layer in half. I read some earlier comments where u mentioned not to split the layers. Is there a reason for that. What i want to do is cut them horizontally and then fill each layer with a berry compote surrounded by a white chocolate dam. Pls let me know if it will work. Sorry for so many questions

Hi Rochelle, I did get all your comments. They won’t show up on the blog until I approve them, so that’s why you didn’t see them there. I’m not sure where I said don’t split the layers, but maybe I just worded it weirdly. Anyway, you can split the layers if you want thinner ones. I usually don’t but that’s just because it seems more stable to me if I leave them as is. It’s totally your preference though and it’ll be just fine if you want to split them. And filling it with berry compote and then using a white chocolate dam sounds really delicious!

Hi Kara! I am trying this recipe very soon for a 4 layer 8″ cake and I would like to know if it is better to make the recipe two separate times or just double it and mix it all at once divide and bake all 4 layers together? Thank you!?

Hi Jasmine, I don’t think it will be that different doing it all at once or separately. The only thing I’d be concerned about is the oven space. If you’ve got a huge oven, it should be fine, but you don’t want to crowd your cake pans though. You need the air to circulate between them. They just come out better when the pans aren’t all butted up against each other, so that’s something to consider. Hope this helps!

Ok. I will do 2 pans at a time. If I double the batter and mix it all at once, how long can I let the batter sit after I divide the batter for the first 2 layers? If you do not recommend doing this I will just make the batches separate. Thank you?

Hi there, on the recipe card in the post, there should be an option under the ingredient list for metric. US Customary is usually in bold, but if you’ll click on Metric next to it, it’ll convert the measurements for you. Hope this helps.

I think it should be fine. You might mix the food coloring in with the liquid mixture. That way you’ll just add it in when you add in the liquid part of your batter and not at the end and risk over mixing the batter. Once it’s all mixed, you can add a bit more color if needed, but then you wouldn’t have to mix it for quite as long. Hope that made sense.

Hi there, one recipe will make two, 8″ round pans (2″ deep), so one recipe per 12″ layer will be plenty. You’ll probably have a little bit of batter left over though for each one, but you can always add that batter to some cupcake pans. Hope that helps!

I’ve tried so many vanilla recipe with no super luck. But when I tried yours,it was awesome, I can’t thank you enough….I don’t usually eat cake, but with this, I ate half of the cake … But my concern is the sugar . Can I reduce it by 1/4?… Despite the sugar ,I couldn’t still my mind off it…….. I hope the cake will not go wrong if I reduce the sugar.

Oh I’m so glad you like the cake! Yes, you should be able to reduce it by 1/4 cup, but I wouldn’t reduce it any more than that, or it could mess with the texture of the cake. And I agree with you…I think this cake is addicting! 🙂

Adrianna, that’s a tricky question. My answer is maybe, maybe not. I know that’s annoying. Salted butter has a bit more water content in it and has added salt. You said it still looked good, so that’s a good sign that maybe it didn’t mess with the texture, but the second ‘if’ is whether it’s too salty. Did you add in the regular salt that the recipe called for? If not, then you’ll probably be fine. If so, then what you could do is just slice a thin sliver off the top of one of the cake layers and taste it. Just a thin slice and no one will know you’ve done that once it’s all put together and iced. Let me know how it goes!

Hi I have just started following your webiste and love it. I am planning to bake your vanilla bean cake that uses cake flour. I have never used cake flour before but just bought onbe from Amazon that has 2% protein. Is that good for stability of the cake? What should be the minimum protein% for cake flour? I am planningto bake this for our wedding anniversay. Please help

Hi there. I have never used a flour with that low of protein. Are you sure it said 2%? I think most cake flour is around 7% or so. I’ve used the brands Swans Down and Softasilk. Both of those work fine. I prefer the Swans Down cake flour though. I don’t know why, but the texture just seems better to me. I’m not sure what flour you purchased, so I don’t really know if it would work or not. You could perhaps try and send me a link to what you purchased and I can take a look at it though if you want.

Ok the link worked. (I deleted it though, so it wouldn’t be marked as spam.) I checked it out and it looks like it’s actually got some good reviews and people are saying they love it in cakes, so I’m thinking it’ll turn out just fine. I can’t guarantee it, since I haven’t used it before, but looks like it’s worked well for others. Let me know how it goes!

Hi. I would like to use your recipe and make 2 cakes both being 1/2 sheet cakes. Will I have to double your recipe to fit into a 1/2 sheet pan? Also, how long should I bake it by it being a 1/2 sheet cake? My goal is to make either a 2 or 3 layer 1/2 sheet cake but I don’t want my layers to be to thick because the cake will be huge if I don’t cut the cake in half. Still debating on how to pull this off 🙂

Hi there, yes you’ll probably need to double the recipe to fill a 1/2 sheet pan. You might want to use a heat core in the middle or a flower nail. It just helps it heat more evenly since it’s such a large cake. As far as how long to bake it, I’d just start out with what is called for in the recipe and then just watch it from there. You’ll have to just eye-ball it and maybe use the toothpick test. If you do use the toothpick test, just make sure there are still some crumbs coming out on the toothpick. You don’t want the toothpick coming out clean…that’s actually baking it too long. Oh and I know what you mean about having two layers for a sheet cake and it being too thick. I’d just make one layer first and see how thick it comes out. If it’s pretty thick, you might get away with torting it (just slicing it in half) and getting two layers out of it. I hope this helps!

Hi! I’m looking to make this for a baby shower this weekend, and was curious about the conversion to metric that’s within the recipe. Is this an actual TESTED metric conversion you’ve used, or just a website that tries to convert it? I’ve historically found using weights to make better breads and cakes, but having a converter do it is usually wildly off so just wanted to check. Unless it’s something you’ve tested I may go with the U.S. recipe to be safe 🙂 Thank you!

Hi Jessica, thanks for asking. The metric conversion comes from my website recipe card program. It auto-converts it for me. I don’t test out the metric conversions, I just use the US measurements. Thanks for letting me know about the conversions being ‘iffy’. That’s good information to know.

Okay, good to know and thank you! I’ll try the US ones this time since it’s for a special occasion but will try and go back to test the metric ones at some point. What program is it that converts it for your site? That way if it works out I finally have a good conversion resource!

Oh that would be great if you could let me know if it works out. I’d love that. The conversions I use are actually through my recipe card plug in for my site. I use WP Recipe Maker and they design the recipe cards and figure out the nutritional values and conversions for me. It’s a paid plug in, but I don’t think they have a site that people can just go on and use conversions. It would be helpful if they did, but I think they just do coding and programs for website plug ins.

Ok, now I’m replying to my reply. I just mentioned the conversions stuff to my husband and he uses an app on his iphone that is pretty amazing. It’s got a gazillion options on it and it’s simply called Convert. Thought you might want to check that out as well to compare.

You can if you’d like, but a reverse creaming method really helps with the texture. It helps keep the batter from being over mixed by coating the gluten in the flour first before adding the liquid. It gives you a great soft and smooth texture. You should be able to do the regular creaming method as well, but the texture may not be exactly like if you’d used the reverse creaming method.

Thank you. I sure appreciate your help. I will stick to your reverse method. I do have another Q regarding chocolate frosting. I will be using sugar transfer sheet designs on top of my chocolate frosting. I am wondering is there a way the frosting is not too wet so as to not ruin the desk oof the transfer sheet when putting it on the frosting Thank you

I’ve actually never used transfer sheets, so I’m not sure I’m much help with that. I can think of two things that may help to keep the buttercream from being too ‘wet’. First, you might just make the icing a little thicker than you normally do. I don’t mean thicker as in adding more, I just mean by perhaps adding in a cup or so more of confectioner’s sugar. The other idea is if you replace part of the butter in the icing recipe with vegetable shortening, it will become closer to a ‘crusting’ buttercream. That might help it a little. Again, I’m definitely not an expert in transfer sheets as I don’t have any experience with them.

I try not to freeze them any longer than two or three weeks. They’re still probably fine for longer than that, but I’m just picky and want the best texture. So a week is totally fine. I usually freeze mine for a couple weeks and they turn out just fine.

I thought it silly to respond before cutting into the cake. What a fantastic Christmas gift 🙂 My sibs and I threw my dad a 97th birthday party and the cake disappeared quickly. I kept the sides of the cake pan cool during baking and it was a wonderful bite, the texture and flavor are perfect. Paired it with a white chocolate cream cheese frosting. A little worried that the raspberry filling would bleed into the cake, I spread a super thin layer of the frosting on the layers and that worked to protect the cake from the raspberry. Can’t wait for the next birthday 😉 Thank you for posting this recipe, Kara

Hey Liz, that’s awesome! I’m so glad everyone liked the cake! And that’s the perfect way to handle fruit filling…adding the thin layer of buttercream and then the filling so it doesn’t soak in. And the white chocolate cream cheese buttercream sounds so good on that cake. Oh and happy birthday to your dad! Wow 97! I need to know his secret. 😉

Hi Connie, I have not baked this in a 13×9 pan, but it should work just fine. I’d say in non high altitude situations, I’d bake it at 350 degrees and I’d probably start checking it around 30 minutes. When it’s done, the top should be golden brown and a toothpick in the middle should come out with a few crumbs on it still. This cake doesn’t rise super high, so there probably won’t be much of a dome on it. As for high altitude baking, I’ve gotta tell ya I have no experience with that at all, so I would only be guessing and that’s not good. I did look up some things though and it’s really interesting how different it is for high altitude baking. Here’s a link I found that has a handy chart for adjustments you might want to make. https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html I’d start there and see how it goes. With me not being high altitude, I don’t have a way to test it out, so if you try it with the adjustments, I’d love to know how it turns out! Other readers might benefit from your high altitude adjustments as well.

Hello Karen, I have made this vanilla cake several times and it turns out an absolute dream every time. It tastes good with all kinds of frosting too! The recipe even worked when I made a double batch and baked it in a 12×18 inch pan. However, I have one question. Is there any way I could turn this recipe into a strawberry cake without strawberry emulsion?

Hi there! I’m so glad you liked the cake! And that’s good to know it works well as a double batch too. You could probably turn this into a strawberry cake, but it would need some experimenting though. You could add in some strawberry puree, but then you’d need to lower the amount of other liquid in the cake. Since strawberries are a bit acidic, you’d need to add a bit more baking soda, but then you’d have to lower the baking powder a bit. So, basically my answer is yes, but it would take a little experimenting on the right amount for each of these things to get it right.